There are a number of heart diseases (e.g. coronary artery disease, mitral valve disease) which have various adverse effects on the heart. An adverse effect of a disease, such as mitral valve disease, is atrial (or auricular) fibrillation. During this type of fibrillation, the atria, rather than the sinus node, initiates the impulses which cause contraction of the heart muscle. In some patients, atrial fibrillation may occur in the absence of any other known disease. However, these impulses are relatively rapid and erratic, and do not properly control the contractions of the heart. As a result, the atria beat faster than the ventricles, the ventricular contractions are irregular, the ventricles do not completely fill, with blood, and the ventricular contractions eject less blood into the greater vessels.
One of the many problems caused by atrial fibrillation is the pooling of blood in the left atrial appendage during fibrillation. When blood pools in the atrial appendage, blood clots can accumulate therein, build upon themselves, and propagate out from the atrial appendage into the atrium. These blood clots can cause serious problems when the heart resumes proper operation (beating) and the blood, along with the blood clot(s), is forced out of the left atrial appendage. Similar problems also occur when a blood clot extending from an atrial appendage into an atrium breaks off and enters the blood supply. More specifically, the blood from the left atrium and ventricle supply the heart and brain. Thus, the blood flow will move the clots into the arteries of the brain and heart which may cause a obstruction in blood flow resulting in a stroke or heart attack.
One procedure which has been used to eliminate the problems caused by blood clotting in the left atrial appendage is to close (stitch off or remove) the left atrial appendage in patients which are prone to atrial fibrillation. However, this procedure presently can only be performed with the chest opened. Accordingly, since the risk of danger from stroke or heart attack due to blood clotting in the left atrial appendage are relatively low when compared to the problems and trauma involved in opening the chest; the chest is almost never opened for the sole purpose of closing or removing the left atrial appendage.
Thus, it would be useful to provide for a method of removing or closing an atrial appendage without the need to open the chest cavity.